Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24895872, member: 26430&quot;]I&#039;m sure anyone who has tried to really research their coins has had that experience! But sometimes what feels like a dead-end actually leads somewhere interesting, even if the path isn&#039;t immediately obvious.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this case, the similarity in iconography between Helioseiros and Phanebal is remarkable (ALT: Phanébal, Phanebalus, Phanebalos). Both very scarce and seemingly little-known (and interesting) deities, both apparently limited to single cities. </p><p><br /></p><p>Is there any relationship between them? Apparently, some have suggested there may be. There is a lot of syncretism (merging &amp; transformation) between ancient gods of different people and cities, so it&#039;s fair to wonder about these two. (It could also just be artistic influence.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I was curious, so I looked around a bit. </p><p><br /></p><p>Henri Seyrig (1970: p. 97, trans. from French) described Phanebal as:</p><blockquote></p><p>&quot;...Phanébal - whose great analogy with Helioseiros of Chalcis ad Belum has already been observed by S. Ronzevalle...&quot;</p><blockquote><p>-- Serig, H. 1970. &quot;Antiquités Syriennes.&quot; <i>Syria </i>47 (1/2): 77-116. [JSTOR: <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4390577" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4390577" rel="nofollow">https://www.jstor.org/stable/4390577</a>]</p><p><br /></p></blockquote>[ATTACH=full]1599514[/ATTACH]</blockquote><p><br /></p><p>From Seyrig, there seem to be similarities between Phanebal and various other deities as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Ronzevalle cited would be this obscure article:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p>Ronzevalle, S. 1930. “Helioseiros.” <i>Arethuse </i>6: 6-17.</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, I think <i>Arethuse</i> is hard to find. Not sure if it&#039;s been digitized.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s not exactly clear how all the different deities are related, but there are other brief mentions about Phanebalus here and there in the literature on Roman-Era religions in the Levant, sometimes alongside Helioseiros or similar deities. Would be interesting to see what is known about their relations to one another.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in